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Crobat's been banished to BL for the last two generations, but has been hampered by the constantly changing metagame. It works well as a stallbreaker, as it has decent defenses, a good typing, and almost unrivaled speed in UU and OU. It can also use a Choice Band with that incredible speed. Unfortunately, it has a Stealth Rock weakness, limiting its usefulness. If you use Crobat's niches though, you will be rewarded.

AbilitiesInner Focus: Your immune to flinches. Not as useful as the other ability IMO. It does allow you to beat Fake Out Ambipom, which can be very annoying at times though.Infiltrator: A rather underrated ability. Allows you to Poison an opponent even if they are under the effects of Safeguard. It can also be used to beat teams that rely on screens.

Standard stallbreaker that can beat things like Jellicent, Chansey, and Blissey. Toxic ruins the former, while Super Fang can wear down the latter two. It can also cripple its normal counter like Zapdos and Slowbro on the switch. Brave Bird is a general good move to wear down Jellicent in conjunction with Toxic, but Jellicent will win if Crobat gets burned. Roost gives Crobat reliable recovery. Taunt can shut down the first three aforementioned Pokemon, but Crobat will still have to watch out for Scald burns. An alternate EV spread of 176 HP / 192 Atk / 4 SpD / 136 Spe is worth considering to OHKO Scrafty with Stealth Rock, and still outspeed Azelf.

This set was a bit more useful in DP, but still can be effective due Crobat's resistance and Immunity to the two most common attacking types in the game: Fighting and Ground. Cross Poison is STAB and has a nice effect of poisoning or landing a crit easier. Brave Bird is Crobat's most powerful move, and OHKOs Heracross. U-Turn can scout as well as hit Celebi hard, and Pursuit can catch fleeing Psychics and Ghosts.

Die Flittermouse

I have been told this one is super annoying/deadly by people who picked it up for their battle room in HG/SS, so it has the virtue of being played well by the game's AI also. Fly is the poor man's protect. You do have to be good at timing confuse ray, but the idea is to get the opponent to damage themselves, and help.

Rather gimmicky, but you can try switch on Breloom/Amoongus' Spore or other sleep inducting moves and use Sleep Talk for guaranteed Whirlwind without negative priority, coupled with balzing speed. Make sure you have plenty hazards to maximally abuse this set.

Crobat is a neat Pokemon. It's high speed and large array of support moves lets it annoy enemies to pretty good effect. On the offensive, you might as well use Aerodactyle instead. Or Azelf. Crobat is a UU Pokemon that has found very rough competition in the 5th generation because Prankster exists. That puts Crobat in a bad spot.
However, Crobat can make use of a usable base 90 attack to not become Taunt bait. In addition, despite a Stealth Rock weakness, Crobat can switch into bug, fighting, grass, and ground attacks, all very common in the metagame. In addition, Crobat is immune to Toxic.
During 4th gen, Crobat was a staple on my team. It can do stuff, but now there are things that do what Crobat does and do it better.

This is my Crobat. I still use it from time to time. The idea was to lead with Crobat, Hypnosis whatever is there, and then use Super Fang. With the target asleep and at half HP, U-Turn would put the target below 50% HP, making whatever came in have either a free turn to set up, or an easy kill. Roost allowed me to use Crobat when its services would be needed again.
This Crobat has one major flaw: Hypnosis. 60% accuracy is not reliable.

Overview
Crobat used to be one of the coolest pokemon out there. Only the cool kids had them in-game, and then they were considered incredibly powerful. And why not? Crobat has record-high Speed and really nice offensive stats; it was a good pokemon. But oh, how it has fallen from grace! For one thing, it isn't cool anymore. Maybe it's because I've changed my taste in pokemon. More likely, however, is the fact that nobody has a Crobat in-game. Only three people every did; Archie and Maxie, of team Aqua and Magma respectively, each had Crobats in the final battle of Ruby and Sapphire, and boy where those Crobats powerful. Not annoying, like Zubats, but powerful and they demanded respect. Since those games, only one other trainer ever used a Crobat, and that was Koga in HGSS. Koga is an idiot, imo, and hasn't ever done anything to deserve respect (you may say he's part of the Elite Four, but if you've seen those guys, you'll realize that any clown can join the E4. It's not that impressive). Battling wise, Crobat was hit really hard in the Fourth Generation with the physical/special split, and since then hasn't really been able to recover. He hasn't gained much in the fifth generation either, while many others have. Not only that, but his typing is horrendous. Poison is by far the worst Offensive typing in the game, and Flying is a decent offensive typing at best. Speaking of offense, his Attack stat is usable, but his Sp. Atk is mediocre are best. His Speed, meanwhile, is really, really fast. On the other hand, his defenses are decent. 85/80/80 defenses aren't half bad, to be completely honest. His typing, however, kills it. The Flying type is one of the top five worst types defensively, as just about every pokemon in the game can learn Psychic, Stone Edge, Ice Beam, or Thunderbolt to hit it super-effectively. Due to this, Crobat is more of a wall-breaker, meaning he tries to weaken opponents walls as much as he can so other pokemon can sweep through teams. He's pretty good at that, though. Anyway, on to abilities.

Abilities:Inner Focus: Prevents flinching on your behalf. It's ok for the occasional haxkiss and ever-present Jirachi (not that you would ever counter a Jirachi using a Crobat, due to typing and move-set on both sides).Infiltrator (DW): This ability is really meh. It basically ignores Reflect, Light Screen, and Safeguard, allowing you to attack your opponents normally. Not really that helpful, as Crobat is more of a wall breaker, and won't really be sweeping.

Imma Break Down Your Walls!
-Super Fang
-Brave Bird
-Zen Headbutt
-Poison Fang/Cross Poison
Item: Choice Band/Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs and Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SP. Atk)
252 Atk/252 Speed
This is a wall-breaker set. Super Fang is incredibly deadly, taking away half of the opponent's health in one go. That really hurts walls, which is great. Brave Bird is STAB that hits hard and ultimately hurts Crobat. Zen Headbutt is filler. I chose the last two because each one can Poison the foe, and they're both STAB. The difference is, however, that Poison Fang can badly poison the foe, while Cross Poison only normally poisons the foe, but has more power and a higher critical hit chance. The EVs are to hit hard and fast. Same with the items.

Nasty Plot Sweeper
-Nasty Plot
-Air Slash
-Sludge Wave
-Giga Drain/Hidden Power Ground
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs and Nature: Modest (+Sp. Atk, -Atk)
252 Sp. Atk/252 Spd
While this may seem kind of odd, Crobat can make a decent Nasty Plot sweeper. He has Nasty Plot (obviously) and a decent special move-set. Nasty Plot doubles your Special Attack stat, making it usable to sweep with; Air Slash is STAB and can make the opponent flinch; Sludge Wave is STAB as well, and hits hard; Giga Drain heals the Life Orb recoil, while Hidden Power Ground hits Steel, Electric, and Rock types, which Crobat can't do otherwise. The EVs are for maximum sweepage.

Partners
Crobat is made for wall breaking, so you want sweepers who can take over when Crobat has done his job. As for the NP set, you will definitely need someone who can take a Rock or Electric type attack for Crobat for pokemon that out speed it, like Jolteon or pokemon that have the Choice Scarf.

Countering Crobat
Honestly, it's not that hard. Out-speed it with the Choice Scarf and use a super-effective attack on it, and it's down. Rock and Steel types wall it, but watch out for Super Fang. Jolteon has the same Speed as Crobat, but can take most of Crobat's attacks and destroy it with Thunderbolt.

Have you head of Nasty Plot sweepers? Well have you also heard of Haze? Probably one the most forgotten moves / underrated moves in the game. Haze is this difference between your loss to a sweeper, to your epic win! Weavile is the only one who's speed comes near to Crobat in UU, so you can definitely haze it b4 it attacks with Swords Dance boosted moves (it may cause u to die though). It also ruins the life of Baton passers and Stored Power users. Scarf is recommended for higher tiers (if u so choose to use Crobat there) and if you are allowing a mix of tiers (RU Aerodactyl is a threat), while Life Orb is for refular UU.

I need people for Friend Safari
2DS friend code (Pokemon Y): 5000-2976-5362
Send a private message my way if you add me.

Just a tip: don't put his poison STAB grass types are hit hard by brave bird anyway and steel wing LOL, nasty plot from a base 70 sp.attack heh good luck.
his main set have been posted already so I will try a gimmick one
edit: oh a good golbat set isn't posted
both of crobat abilities are situational: infiltrator is good against screens and inner focus is good against jirachi/togekiss mainly.
so a pun: nananana crobat

Works best as a lead acrobatics is a strong recoiless STAB with 110 BP after a flying gem it have an insane 247.5 sure archeops hits way better with acrobatics but crobat is faster and works well also in late game (when down to 50%) Taunt stops stealth rock although leads are rare you never know, U-turn scouts althout the SR weakness it is still useful since as said he is a lead,Roost help him survive repeated SR damage and hyper fang is great against walls.

Edit: this set is actually worse than brave bird but it doesn't have recoil.. though leftovers recovery is missing..

So a wall golbat in NU/RU is a really good idea he resists fighting which is a cool resistance, immunity to ground, also bug and grass barely touch him that what make golbat a valuable wall. Brave Bird is kinda unortodox for a wall but it protects from being a taunt bait, roost is a logical move for a wall, toxic, toxics it is pretty obvious hyper fang just cuts 50% hp of something at full health really useful on switch ins protect pairs great with toxic.

parthners should be a spinner like warturtle,cryogonal (RU only also good synergy except shared rock weakness) or stuff weak to fighting in general like bastidon or aggron.

Last edited by Ilan; 12th August 2012 at 8:21 PM.

Originally Posted by Professor Oak

Only two things are infinite, the universe and the amount of zubat in caves, and I'm not sure about the former.

I'll say this: Crobat was BORN to stallbreak. Base 130 Speed Taunt + Super Fang cripples pokemon like Nidoqueen if you run a bulky EV spread and Roost (and that's only if it runs Ice Beam), and Brave Bird hits sort of hard.

I'm terrible with puns.

And Beat Up Terrakion isn't Uber because it gets screwed up by Rage Powder Amoonguss, Scizor, Trick Room Jellicent + Amoonguss and any Scarfer capable of OHKOing Terrakion. And Smogon doesn't ban move + pokemon. All of these except Scarfers and Scizor are extremely common in doubles.

Last edited by Vandslaux; 13th August 2012 at 2:51 AM.

Credit to Beck for the RNG userbar.
As of August 18th 2012, I resigned as a CG leader.

Well, let's get to the analysis...TO THE CROBATCOMPUTER (had to be done)...

*er-hem* Aside from Speed, it looks dangerously similar to Pidgeot from Base Stats alone. However, Crobat's Speed cranks the usefulness-factor over Pidgeot up to nosebleed levels. Aside from lucky chance from the Speed-ties (Jolteon, Aerodactyl, and Mewtwo), only non-Defense Deoxys, Ninjask, Accelgor, and Electrode can outrun it outside of a Trick Room without Priority in play. Add potential for Sleep, two kinds of Poisoning, HP halving, becoming Confused, or Flinching and Crobat can annoy many Pokemon to no end...

...until you see how Average its non-Speed Base Stat spread is. Average defenses, Good HP, Above-Average Attack, and Below-Average Sp.Atk mean you have to rely on those things for a bulk of your offense...

...which isn't that bad, actually. Many useful Moves in its pool, such as Acrobatics, Zen Headbutt, Nasty Plot, Heat Wave, and Super Fang, are huge assets. It doesn't matter that you gave a weaker Pokemon a job over a specialist damage-dealer when it gets the same results. The fact is you can get go fire-and-forget with something like Alakazam or Terrakion, but you'll be more memorable for making an opponent frustrated to no end in the same amount of Battle time with Crobat's point-and-pick offense. This can sway a Battle on a psychological level if the opponent is shocked by your precision-over-brute-force play-style.

I think we could pt here a zelda puninvolving something about the 2 things in the world that get in the way. Something about Keese everywhere.

Counters foe Eviolite Golbat: It will usually Spam Super Fang to make it worse so ... A red card holder does the trick along with the most powerful status move of all stealth rocks (curse that move!). Keep in mind that even if you got the resistance to like ... toxic, it will still reduce your health to half due to super fang. Oh, and Skarmory too, just be wary of the super fang after you use whirlwind.

Mind if anyone of you keep my pokemon company? Just click on these pokemon from Pokeheroes

Well, let's get to the analysis...TO THE CROBATCOMPUTER (had to be done)...

*er-hem* Aside from Speed, it looks dangerously similar to Pidgeot from Base Stats alone. However, Crobat's Speed cranks the usefulness-factor over Pidgeot up to nosebleed levels. Aside from lucky chance from the Speed-ties (Jolteon, Aerodactyl, and Mewtwo), only non-Defense Deoxys, Ninjask, Accelgor, and Electrode can outrun it outside of a Trick Room without Priority in play. Add potential for Sleep, two kinds of Poisoning, HP halving, becoming Confused, or Flinching and Crobat can annoy many Pokemon to no end...

...until you see how Average its non-Speed Base Stat spread is. Average defenses, Good HP, Above-Average Attack, and Below-Average Sp.Atk mean you have to rely on those things for a bulk of your offense...

...which isn't that bad, actually. Many useful Moves in its pool, such as Acrobatics, Zen Headbutt, Nasty Plot, Heat Wave, and Super Fang, are huge assets. It doesn't matter that you gave a weaker Pokemon a job over a specialist damage-dealer when it gets the same results. The fact is you can get go fire-and-forget with something like Alakazam or Terrakion, but you'll be more memorable for making an opponent frustrated to no end in the same amount of Battle time with Crobat's point-and-pick offense. This can sway a Battle on a psychological level if the opponent is shocked by your precision-over-brute-force play-style.

zen headbutt and special are horrible choices people plz stop mentioning them..
brave bird deal with fighting types just fine! why the hell do you need zen headbutt? special lol.. base 70.. is pathetic.
STAB neutral BB= 180 BP, SE zen headbutt= 160 we can clearly see which one is superior right?
and there is no poison type who resist flying.
HEat wave comming from a base 70.. is horrible... just use U-turn and switch to magnezone..
talking about magnezone he is a fine partner crobat hate steels and magnezone hate ground and fighting attacks.

Last edited by Ilan; 13th August 2012 at 2:36 PM.

Originally Posted by Professor Oak

Only two things are infinite, the universe and the amount of zubat in caves, and I'm not sure about the former.

I meant because of all of the bat puns and having to take the stupid hit myself. Otherwise, it would've been someone else saying that one...

Originally Posted by Ilan

zen headbutt and special are horrible choices people plz stop mentioning them..
brave bird deal with fighting types just fine! why the hell do you need zen headbutt? special lol.. base 70.. is pathetic.

I mentioned it mostly for the Flinching aspect. Otherwise, it's skippable entirely thanks to BB. Special is somewhat usable due to Nasty Plot access, but only if you can guarantee a boost before your meh-worthy endurance leaves you in the dust.

Anyway, countering Crobat comes down to a few possibilities:
-Hard-hitting Priority, such as STAB Ice Shard users (aside from Cryogonal, Glaceon, Smeargle, and Donphan, any Fully-Evolved Ice Shard user fits this description)
-More Speed and Super-Effective STAB, such as Jolteon, Aerodactyl, or Electrode
-Endurance plus the Ghost Type, such as Cofagrigus, Dusknoir, or Eviolite-clops

The Ghost Types prevent Super Fang spamming and can Will-o-Wisp to nerf the usually-Physical Crobat. Ice Shard from the aforementioned users (combined with Crobat's meh-worthy endurance) will usually spell Crobat's doom. Jolteon, Aerodactyl, and Electrode are self-explanatory (especially with Crobat's meh-worthy endurance being in Electrode's favor as well).

Last edited by Kraleck; 13th August 2012 at 2:34 PM.
Reason: Adding to post to prevent double-posting.